


Temptation Tries my Trepidation

by needlesandink



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Spock, Badass Vulcans, But whatever, Except For Some of It, Fake Vulcan Lore, Fake Vulcan Myths and Legends, I Love Pre-Reform, M/M, Made Up Pre-Reform Culture, Me Being A Slut Over Pre-Reform Vulcans, Pon Farr, Pre-Reform Vulcan, Pre-Surak, Romance, T'hy'la, Totally Made Up Vulcan Stuff, Vulcan, Vulcan Culture, Vulcan Earrings, Vulcan Language, Vulcan Prince!Spock, Warrior Bond, Warrior Vulcans, myths and legends, too many tags sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:24:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9475502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/needlesandink/pseuds/needlesandink
Summary: When on a mission to make peace with the warriors of Vulcan, Jim searches for a fabled talisman that he heard about during his first year at the academy. Jim ends up forgetting all about his search after a few days in when he catches the eye of the Prince of Vulcan. While Captain Pike negotiates peace talks Jim is running off with the Prince. But it turns out that fabled talisman ends up being not so fabled after all. Hiding from parents (and Captains), getting magic powers, fighting a mythical boss battle and somehow falling in love along the way.





	

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot of made up Vulcan shit in this story. But I fuckin' love me some Pre-Reform Vulcan. Mmmhmm.

Jim is practically vibrating with excitement. “This is so cool!” He exclaimed, leaning forward in the chair in Pike’s office.  “This is so, so _cool!”_ He grins from ear to ear, rubbing his palms against his cadet reds with anxiousness. _Good anxiousness._

Pike frowns at him in response, “This is not _cool_ , Jim. This is serious.” He states, his hands folded on his desk.

Jim doesn’t get how Pike doesn’t think this is absolutely, irrevocably and indescribably- _cool._

Pike continues and shakes his head, “Jim, this is a very, very important mission and I cannot stress that enough. The only reason I’m taking you is because you need the on-ship hours. They’re not going to like that we’re there, and they won’t like if someone is _bouncing around_. They might find it threatening and decide to kill you.” He says and Jim snorts. Of course he’ll be good when they get there, but for now, it’s just fucking _cool._

“Vulcan, Pike! _Vul-can!_ That’s insane! After years and years of them being radio silent they finally want to talk to the Federation! You can’t tell me you don’t think that’s cool.” He says and gives his classic Jim smile.

Pikes glares at him for a minute before his stare breaks and he grins a little bit. “Okay, yeah, it’s kinda cool. But you can’t act out, you have to perform like a real officer and take this seriously. It’s a miracle that Komack let me take you to such a vital mission as this. Don’t blow it, Jim.” He warns and Jim nods. He’s excited, yeah, but he won’t mess it up. Pikes gives him a smile and nods, “Dismissed.”

Jim stands and salutes and leaves the room. As soon as the doors swish behind him he does a little cheer.

_Vulcan._

Jim had heard Vulcan’s described as _feral_. He had heard whispers and rumors of them having enough strength to crush a human, of their savage culture. How they send their children into the wild desert to survive on their own for 8 days. And if they didn’t return they didn’t even try to retrieve the bodies. They fought constantly among themselves, held public gladiatorial matches to the death, and fought over the right to mate. Not to mention their telepathy. Vulcans were… terrifying.

Which is why Jim is excited beyond belief.

Vulcans had been denying the invitation to join the United Federation of Planets. They declined strangely politely with an underlying threat of ‘if you don’t leave us alone we will rip out your hearts and eat them for breakfast’. So the Federation let them be for as long as it’s existed. Vulcan remains peaceful with other planets, as long as those planets leave them the fuck alone. One time a Klingon warship tried to land and invade their most popular city. The ship of over 200 Klingons were demolished in the streets and apparently they captured around 20 and killed them off in a death ritual.

So yeah, Vulcans were kind of fucking cool.

They were even tougher than their Romulan ancestors, more advanced and even more savage. They could conquer the universe if they set their minds to it, but preferred to remain isolated and alone. But now… now after so long of ignoring anyone that wasn’t a threat, they wanted to speak with the Federation about joining.

Pretty. Fucking. Cool.

Or well, at least Jim thought so. No one really knew much about Vulcans other than the rumors. They were a close knit species and anyone who dared to try to get more information was ripped limb from limb for trespassing. So, they weren’t the easiest to talk to, and no one knew what would set them off onto a murderous rampage.

The ‘fleet decided to send their best diplomatic officer- Captain Pike- and his choice of a small crew to man a small warp-capable shuttle to Vulcan to have peace talks. Pike chose his first officer, a couple of his crew from his previous starship and three Cadets. Uhura, McCoy, Kirk.

Let him reiterate again- It would be so cool.

Nyota Uhura was the most promising cadet in communications and linguistics, making her a perfect choice. Leonard McCoy was one of the ‘fleet’s best doctors and could figure out any ailment in a quick minute, it was best that he tag along. And Jim… well. Jim just had potential.

And a need for on-ship hours.

So Pike had gotten him on board, as his advisor it was his job to make sure Jim got all of his credits. So in three days they would set out for Vulcan and would spend as long as it took to get them to say yes. They would be a valuable ally to have on their side.

Jim would get to be apart of a mission that could alter history forever, and nothing could be better than that. This could really be his time to shine. His time to show how serious he really was about being in Starfleet and bout becoming a Captain. Plus he would get to hang out with Bones, and bother Uhura the whole time. What more could he ask for?

Uhura, like himself, was a Vulcan fanatic. She was invested in their culture and their people and whenever Jim told her a bit of Vulcan information that she may or may not know, she sent him a glare. She probably didn’t know that he was genuinely interested in their species and not spouting facts to bug her.

Vulcans were terrifying, feral, lethal, murderous and absolutely insane.

It would so cool.

 

* * *

 

Bones through a shirt at him, “Are you stupid or somethin’?” He asked and Jim pulled the shirt off of his head and threw it right back at his friend.

“What do you mean?” He grinned at Bones and earned a very disapproving look towards him. Bones walked over to him and glared. A finger was pointed in the direction of his face.

“You _know_ what I _mean_.” Bones said, more angry now. “Are you stupid or somethin’?” He repeated and Jim rolls his eyes at him, turning to continue to pack his bag. T-shirt, T-shirt, more T-shirts, shorts, jeans, cadet uniform, command uniform…

“ _Listen,_ this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who knows if Vulcan will even sign the treaty or not!? This might be the only chance we ever get to be on the planet. Why not?” Jim counters, and he has a very good point, although Bones would never admit that in a thousand years.

It was a longshot that Vulcan would even accept the treaty, even though they invited the ‘fleet to their planet for the conference. They would be on Vulcan for an indeterminate amount of time, and it might just be the only time anything other than Vulcans can walk around on Vulcan sand and not get slaughtered. Or well… they at least hope they don’t get slaughtered, it’s a very likely possibility too

Vulcan’s were hardasses and only cared about their own race, which would make this very, very hard. The Vulcan’s would be signing a treaty that basically said not to harm a big list of species and that their rituals, culture, food, resources and basically _everything_ would become part of the Federation, which meant that a lot more beings would have access to it.

There was no guarantee the Vulcans would go for that. And there was little to no guarantee that they would be safe the whole time they were there. Of course the Vulcans had promised that this was a peaceful mission and that they only wished to talk, nothing more. But… they were Vulcans. They were unpredictable, chaotic.

So… being that this had a 82.65 percent chance of being the Federation’s only trip to Vulcan: Jim was going to search for an ancient rumored talisman.

Bones scoffs at him and shakes his head. “You _are_ stupid. I can’t believe this. You’re going to go to ae planet that hates everyone, a planet that hasn’t been charted by the Federation and you’re _going to go on a search for a thing that might not even exist?_ You don’t even know _where_ it would be even if it _did_ exist? How are you going to find it Jim? Huh?” Bones questions, raising his voice and pacing around the room.

Typical.

Ever since Jim had joined the academy there was a rampant rumor of _Tenek’hylar_. Apparently it was just one of those things that floated around the academy. Something to keep first years entertained and for seniors to add onto the story. But there was _evidence._ Or well, Jim had evidence.

The story the cadets heard went like this:

 _Vulcan is known for it’s fierce warriors. Known for how strong they all feel and how savage they fight. Back when Vulcan’s were even less civilized than they were now, there was an outlier. His name was Tenek. He was the fiercest warrior in all of Vulcan legend. There were some reports that he could speak with the sands of Vulcan, that he could whisper to the le-matya to do his bidding and he could move trees with a sharp look of his eye. He was dangerous, feral and blood thirsty. He would kill his own people if they didn’t do his bidding, he would murder his family, friends and anyone around him for his own enjoyment. He had no control over himself, and no control over his powers. He consulted the Gods about how to unlock his powers, how to become his most powerful self._  
  
The Gods denied him the knowledge. They told him that until he learned how to respect his fellow Vulcans that he would never move the sands, would never speak with sehlats or fight next to the winds. He left, even more angered and enraged than when he arrived. He went back to his village and planned to slaughter left and right. He gathered his people into a clearing and drew his lirpa, prepared to kill each being one by one. Tenek raised his lirpa and swung forward to strike the first victim. Before his weapon could make contact, his lirpa was stopped. He looked at his opponent and was in shock. He had never seen this being before. The newcomer stood before him, battle ready, in armor and wielding his own lirpa. When Tenek realized that he had been challenged he immediately began to fight. But the newcomer was of equal strength.

_They fought for hours upon hours, never seemingly able to harm the other, always staying equal. After almost a full Vulcan day of fighting, both the warriors collapsed of exhaustion. The constant struggle of power taking it’s toll on the two Vulcans. They laid side by side, and when they had regained enough strength, rose and spoke. The newcomer introduced himself as Reliit and rumors of Tenek’s savagery had spread through the Vulcan sands. Reliit said he had a vision from the Gods themselves to come and put an end to Tenek’s ways. He traveled for days upon days to get there. Reliit and Tenek decided to come to a stalemate with their fighting, obviously neither able to defeat the other. Tenek’s village had returned to their homes by the time they had come to. They walked back to Tenek’s village and on the way Reliit convinced Tenek to spare his people. That he shouldn’t fight his clan, that they would be stronger together._

_After months Tenek and Reliit became closer than any warriors. They were ni ki’ne. Reliit had decided to stay and help Tenek keep peace in his village._

_One day Reliit wakes in the middle of the night, calling for Tenek. He had been sent a message from the Gods once more. They were to set out to the temple immediately._

_Upon arriving in front of the Gods, they were greeted by the Goddess of War and Tenek was able to unlock his powers. Reliit and Tenek lived their lives conquering enemies and trusting their own clan. Keeping their families close._

_Rumor has it, that when Tenek and Reliit were on the edge of death they went far into the mountains and carved out a stone tablet. The Gods put Tenek’s powers into the tablet and as they did so he died. Reliit died right after him, supposedly from the grief of watching his friend die as his powers were drained._

_And now, somewhere deep in the mountains of Vulcan, there lies a tablet. And apparently whoever finds the tablet can unlock the powers of Tenek, as long as they have their ni ki’ne with them._

 

Or well.. something along those lines.. Jim didn’t really believe that if he found the tablet he would be graced with some sort of cool earth bending powers, but he thoughts he might as well try to find the stone they carved out so he could take it home as a souvenir.

“Why not? _Why not?_ Because it’s crazy? Because you aren’t going to become an all powerful being? So what’s the point?” Bones throws his arms in the air crazily.

Jim shrugs, “I dunno. Cause it’d be fun? We won’t even be allowed in to half of the talks that Pike has to go through, so why not have something to occupy our time with?” Jim suggests as he zips his suitcase closed.

Bones sputters, “What? _We?”_ He shouts, “What about _we?_ I’m not helping you on your crazy quest to get cursed by some crazy Vulcan mumbo jumbo. And I am definitely _not_ trekking through the fucking desert to help you look for a stupid piece of rock hidden in a larger piece of rock.” He states and Jim huffs.

“Oh come on! What else are you supposed to do? Sit around until Pike needs something? No! We’re going to find the talisman.” He says and grins, “Now finish packing, we have to be at shuttle bay in an hour.” Bones throws a shoe at him as he gets back to his suitcase.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are my lifeblood. Separate Ways will be updated on Saturday evening (most likely...)!


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